Finley Cai Aies Hall March 30th, 20XX

One would think that being summoned to another world would only happen once in a lifetime (if at all) but that concept or rule apparently choose not to apply itself to me.

Perhaps it was due to the fact that I was half asleep or that I was simply used to waking up in completely unfamiliar places by now but I did not panic or even bother getting up out of the bed I found myself in.

The doorless chamber was unbearably cold so I wrapped the quilt tightly around myself before I started to survey the room.

It was a chamber fit for an emperor, richly embroidered with silver polished so brightly that it shone and red so intense that it seemed like real blood. I let out a small and perhaps insane chuckle as I realized that everything in the room with the exception of myself was either silver, black or red, from the cubic gems on the chandeliers chandeliers down to the velvet wired rugs.

A portrait of a handsome silver haired and alternately red and black eyed man in a mask glared at me from the other end of the room and sent chills down my spine. Poking above the mask was a small horn, about the half the length of a finger, shaped like a slender cylinder and stretching towards the ceiling.

It took some effort but I eventually dragged myself off the bed and shuffled around the room in what I knew was a futile attempt to escape and find my way home, because I’d been sleeping I didn't even have the locket or wand that would allow me to transport back of my own will. As I searched a voice suddenly reached my ears, not loud enough to boom but loud enough for me to hear.

“ You are Finley”

I whipped around to see that the man in the painting had come to life and stood behind me with an expression so different from that in the painting that he seemed like a completely different person. Instead of the stern and oppressive expression he held in the picture he now had more of a tired feel to his face and looked ill tempered rather than oppressive.

“ Am I correct?”

I slowly nodded but stayed on my guard... not that it would have done anything against the sword he held in his scabbard.

“ And you are?”

“ Theodulus. It's a pleasure to finally see you again.”

“ I’d say likewise but it wouldn't be the truth considering I’ve never met you before.”

He laughed in what he probably figured was a good natured manner and shrugged but the pleased sparkle in his eyes dimmed a bit at my reply,

“ Fair enough. I must praise you though not a lot of human born/raised would be completely calm in this situation”

The fact that he had to specify the words human and born/raised proved my original assumption of the fact that this man was not human.

“ If it's possible I’d like to take your praise in the form of my return home.”

Once again he laughed, a bright but slightly hollow sound but shook his head in response. The light from the chandelier bounced around the room as it reflected off his hair and furthered the dream like atmosphere that surrounded me and influenced my actions and decisions.

I found myself acting a lot looser than I usually would and a hell of a lot more reckless. I continued speaking to the man that was clearly much stronger than me in that same confident tone that could only come from one that held no fear of death.

“ I can't do that yet but I can answer a few questions.”

“ Where am I?”

He slightly frowned as if this wasn't the question he expected even though it seemed like a rather reasonable one but answered all the same

“ You’re in the Goblin realm. It’s technically on the same plane of existence as the place you refer to as the Fairy world but in a different section.”

A lot of his words fluctuated to my ears and it occurred to me that I should figure out why but it was the last problem on my mind at the moment.

“ So you're a..”

He nodded with a slightly annoying look of condescending pride directed at me and finished my sentence for me.

“ Goblin. “

I began to ask another question but he beat me to it,

“ How much do you know about your father?”

“ The fact that he was a goblin and the fact that he’s dead.”

His amicable smile fell of his face and into a scowl as he not-so-silently cursed.

“ Of course that's all those (indiscernible word) told you. why would they have to honor the memory of such a ( indiscernible word) goblin. ”

I struggled to find the words to calm him down but he suddenly directed his words at me again with a softened but still annoyed expression.

“ I don't suppose they told you what class he was?”

Almost afraid to set him off again I delayed replying but his glare sharpened to the point that I felt forced to,

“ Only that he wasn't powerful enough to beat out my mom’s genes and let my goblin side overtake the fairy ones. But in the video message it was mentioned that he was a Rumpelstiltskin.”

Once again he exploded,

“ What do those (indiscernible word) mean he wasn't powerful enough? it's the mother that was such a freak of nature! at least they had the decency to let you know what he was! hmph! i can bet they didn't even tell you what a Rumplestiltskin was!”

It took a while before I realized that he’s directed the last part at me but before i had time to reply he’d run a harsh hand through his hair and calmed down at an incredible and slightly scary pace. He faced me with his original smile but his ill tempered aura still shone through.

“ Well I suppose that's as good as any place to start.”

Now it was my turn to frown as I recognized the familiar turn of events. I took a step back and looked at him with suspicion and warning in my eyes.

“ Start what?”

“ First put away that glare in your eyes before I return it. Right now you don't even have enough power to knock down a chair nevermind me; and to start you lessons of course, I can't have the child of a Rumplestiltskin running around with only Fairy influence can I?”

I scowled but tried my best to remove the hostility from my face because as he’d said I didn't even have the locket and I was willing to admit to the fact that my fitness wasn't really my strongest suit.

Even after training with cambridge it had mainly been spells and the history and mannerisms of the world. We hadn’t really gotten to actual combat yet.

“ Do you have anything from your dad?”

I started to shake my head but the forgotten box in my revealed its presence to me with a sharp corner to my ribs and caused me to reach into my pocket and bring it out. Theodulus eyes twinkled at the sight of the jeweled box and he sighed nostalgically,

“ Ah, now that brings back memories. Have you been able to open it?”

I shook my head and tried not to let my annoyance show at the degree of frustration the tiny box had given me.

“ Not yet, no”

He laughed at the annoyed tone that had slipped out and outstretched his hand,

“ Of course not, it can only be opened by a goblin, and a high ranking one at that. Give it here.”

I tossed it to him only to feel a hard hit at the back of my head that propelled me forward by four steps.

Theodulus hadn't moved from his spot but it was pretty obvious that it was from him. I began to glare but acknowledged the fact that I wouldn't be able to land any hits in retribution and retracted it. As if he’d not only heard my thought but agreed with them he nodded before walking over to a board that had appeared and writing on it,

“ Lesson one, never give a stranger anything that belongs to you. Ever. Magic can be done with something as small as a fingerprint just as easily as it can with a blood sacrifice Especially when you are weaker than the opponent and have no way of retrieving the object.”

He tossed the now opened box to me and watched as I took out the object. A ruby colored metal in the shape or a ring and an armband of the same color that was connected by a thin silver chain.

“ Hry it on. It's your inheritance from your dad. “

Even without wearing it I could feel the power radiating off it and hurriedly clipped the armband on and started to slide the ring onto my finger before I was stopped with another hit to the head.

This time I didn't stop myself and glared once again at Theodulus.

“ What now?”

He pointed to the other lessons he’d written while I was concentrated on the item.

“Lesson number two; don't follow the orders of a person you've just met without demanding an explanation first. Lesson number three is don't do things you don't know how to do, especially in other universes”

In my irritation I couldn't help but think,

There seem to be alotta don'ts in these Lessons and who said I wanted to learn these anyways?

“ I’m pretty sure I know how to put on a ring.”

His lips twitched in irritation and he seemed to wrestle with himself before he finally replied to my sarcastic tone as calmly as he could.

“ Ordinarily I would let you try it the wrong way and let you face the consequences but this one would result in your death.”

At the word death my fingers released the ring and it stopped only inches from the cold floor having been caught by the chain. Hearing his dead serious tone made me want to choke on my previous one but I decided to ask for specifics first. My life thus far might not have been the best one but it was definitely one worth keeping.

“ my death?”

He first raised his left arm,

" First of all, the band goes on the non dominant, since it would not be pleasant to have your sword or arrow tangled in the chain.”

He then raised a hand, pointing to each finger as he spoke,

“ The ring finger is for your relationships; it leads right to your heart, putting the ring there would be like pumping a few thousand volts of electricity directly into your heart. The middle finger is the opposite; your power line, it will help distribute the energy around your body rather than focusing it on one spot.”

I nodded and switched clipped the band around my left arm and slipped the ring over the middle finger as instructed. I considered showing Theodulus the proof I had the ring over the right finger but figured it would only get me hit again.

“ is this it?”

He nodded,

“ Yeah that's how you wear it but you won't be able to use it anyways.”

“ why not?”

One again my tone was irritable but that was because I felt like I’d just wasted quite a lot of precious sleeping time. His hands moved up and down as he motioned for me to calm down while he explained.

“ Before I start teaching you in earnest there is something you've got to understand which starts with the fact that it needs your blood to activate.”

Despite his overly serious tone it wasn't any less that I’d originally expected anyways.

“ I understand.”

He slowly shook his head in response and his face mirrored the graveness of his tone.

" No, you really don’t. All this time you’ve only been exposed to is the good side of magic, all that really needed was your consent. Goblin magic is different in that it requires more than that. There'll be some sacrifices that you'll have to make that might be painful and some trails you'll have to pass in order to reach the level that your father did. Of course with me here it'll be considerably less risky but it'll still take time and dedication. "

Despite the warning tone that he took I somehow felt determined to undertake this. Maybe it was due to the warped concept I had of the fact that everything came with a cost, which was the reason the fairy world disturbed me so much. I’d been gifted so much and was reluctant to deal with the price for it. It was like walking on a foggy golden brick road that hid the cliff at the end of it but this road seemed clear.

As for achievable….We’d get there.

There was also the fact that I knew next to nothing about my dad and apparently no one else did either. All I had from him was the box and the single line he’d spoken in the video message my mother had left.

I looked at Theodulus more seriously than I’d been this whole time and nodded,

“I. understand.”

As if realizing the extent of my determination he smiled and immediately launched into a plan. His eyes swept over me in an distasteful manner that made me uncomfortable.

“ We’ll have to start with improving your physique, at this rate even if you got your Inheritance now you wouldn't be able to do anything. You also need to know is the history of the races, I'll bet anything that all your learning from those fairies is etiquette. then you'll need to learn how to sword fight, hand to hand will be handy as well. you’ll also need to know how Goblins interact, using fairy etiquette will only get your butt kicked. Learning the old language will help too. we usually only use the common language but you'll need it for official meetings.”

After the first line he had stopped talking to me and started talking to himself but I stayed quiet and listened, he wouldn't have been the first bad teacher I’d ever had anyways. I was all geared up to learn when a sudden important question occurred to me,

“ Wait, this will be happening every night right?”

He scowled at me for pulling him out of his train of thought but nodded,

“ Yeah.”

“ I can't do that. I have school in the mornings, work in the afternoons and the fairy world in the evenings. and I need time to sort through all the paperwork from school and work, not to mention sleep. “

He scowled at the fact that I put the fairy world on my list of important factors but stayed quiet.

“ Is school really that important? can't you do that ...homeschooling thing?”

“I’m already more than halfway through my last year and I need to have this backing in order to keep my moms company.”

He gave me a disgusted look but started to head towards the drawers at the side of the room while muttering to himself,

“ How bad are this kid’s priorities? Those Fairies and Humans….”

He continued to curse them in such ways that I don't feel it would be appropriate to record before he returned to me with a silver stopwatch. He chucked it at my head at a speed barely slow enough for me to catch it.

“ Here take this. the problem is sleep right?”

I nodded.

“When I send you back put in how many hours you need and it’ll stop time for that long. That should work right?”

I very carefully tucked it into my pockets and nodded while carefully hiding a grin and thinking of the chaos I could cause with this.

“ Yeah, this should work”

But it was wiped off my face with a blinding pain that took me a second to fully register it. I had been hit again.

“ Stop doing that, you aren't with the Fairies anymore.”

I held a hand up to my scalp to make sure there wasn’t any blood loss before retorting,

“ Stop doing what?”

“ Hiding your emotions so obviously, It's annoying and in the goblin world it's enough to get you hit”

I thought once again that there seemed there was a lot that could get you hit in the goblin world but I kept that sentiment to myself.

“ Fine. Now can we start the lesson?”

He pulled out a watch and checked the time,

“ Looks like we ran out of time thanks to your unnecessary resistance. You’ve atleast learned enough to know that im much too powerful for you to fight so i don't know why you even bothered. ”

He brought out the thing I’d started to dread, a transporter.

“ Before you go I'm gonna warn you not to tell anyone about this, especially not a fairy. “

“What why?”

Either ways I wasn't planning on telling Esmeralda but it was more because I didn't want her to freak out and go on another rant on goblins than of any consideration for Theodulus.

“ Because it runs the possibility of having the fairies accuse the goblins of kidnapping and starting a war. which I'm sure no one wants…….of course if you do that's fine as well. “

I shook my head rapidly,

“ I won't tell anyone”

Despite the fact that I had been kidnapped and his rough demeanor, there was something about him that let me trust him a lot easier than Esmarelda. So I really didn't have a problem with keeping this a secret. At least that was what I thought before I was knocked unconscious.